Note: this topic is from January 9, 2002. Thanks Oxylus. Panspermia topic.
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Posted on 01/09/2002 7:05:12 PM PST by Oxylus
SCIENTISTS have proved for the first time that bacteria can survive in outer space, supporting the theory that life on Earth began with extra-terrestrial microbes.
Researchers showed that spores could stay alive when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun if they were protected by particles of clay and red sandstone commonly found in meteorites.
The tests, in which spores were released from a Russian satellite, suggest that the 'panspermia' theory that life began elsewhere and was carried to Earth on meteorites is plausible.
The hypothesis was first proposed by Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, in 1903 and was developed in the 1970s by the astronomers Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe.
One theory is that an asteroid collision sent bacteria to Earth. Details of the study by a team from the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne are reported today in New Scientist.
Sir Fred Hoyle would be proud. His 1983 book The Intelligent Universe, essentially predicts this and his premise that the whole universe is seeded with life. I subscribe somewhat to this idea.
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Goat cheese anyone?
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